ABSTRACT
Allocation of system function (Chapanis, 1970), function allocation (Hollnagel, 1999), or sociotechnical allocations (Clegg et al, 2000) are names given to the process in which members of a design team decide whether to allocate jobs, tasks, system functions, or responsibility to human or automated agents in sociotechnical work environments. Although a variety of tools, techniques, and automated aids are now available to assist the function allocation process, consideration of the relative merits of people and machines remains at the heart of the process. Whereas originally, comparison of the contrasting abilities of people and machines concentrated purely on task-related performance factors, such as the ability to process large volumes of data or speed of processing, contemporary schemes have been broadened to consider wider social issues, such as job satisfaction, user engagement, and empowerment of system stakeholders (Kirby, 1997).
